Comparison of myocardial perfusion reserve before and after coronary balloon predilatation and after stent implantation in patients with postangioplasty restenosis.

Background Stents provide a scaffold for coronary arteries after angioplasty and inhibit elastic recoil. Methods and Results In 25 patients with postangioplasty restenosis of the left anterior descending artery, ECG-gated digital subtraction coronary angiograms were recorded at baseline and during hyperemia (12 mg papaverine IC) before and after balloon predilatation (PTCA), after implantation of a Palmaz-Schatz stent, and after 6 months. Densitometric evaluation revealed different time and density parameters to calculate two definitions of myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR1 and MPR2) and maximum flow ratio (MaxFR). Poststenotic MPR1 increased from 1.57±0.14 to 2.59±0.86 after PTCA and to …